Long Beach Voters to Decide $750 Million Port and Infrastructure Bond

Long Beach voters will decide Measure I on the November 2026 ballot, a measure that authorizes $750 million in general obligation bonds for port infrastructure, transit expansions and street repairs across the city.

The proposal arrives as the Port of Long Beach recorded 9.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units in cargo volume last fiscal year, according to the port authority's annual report, and city budget documents show a $48 million shortfall in road maintenance funding for fiscal year 2027.

Jobs tied to port upgrades

Passage of the measure would allocate $320 million to terminal modernization at the port, a step city planning staff state is projected to support 1,800 construction positions over five years and sustain long-term cargo-handling roles at existing terminals.

Another $210 million would fund light-rail extensions along Atlantic Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway, routes that connect residential areas to port-area warehouses and manufacturing sites where 14 percent of Long Beach workers hold jobs, per 2024 American Community Survey data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Services and street maintenance

The remaining $220 million would cover pavement rehabilitation on 47 miles of local streets and replacement of aging water mains in the North Long Beach and Westside neighborhoods, work that the city engineer's office lists as reducing average pothole repair response time from 12 days to four days once completed.

The measure text filed with the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder states that bond repayment would be covered through existing property tax authority without new rate increases, though total interest costs are projected at $412 million over 30 years based on current municipal bond rates.

If approved, the city clerk's office expects initial project bidding to begin in the first quarter of 2027, with the first completed segments of road resurfacing scheduled for the 2028 fiscal year.